THUNDERSTORMS: ESPECIALLY THOSE OF OHIO.* 
WILLIAM H. ALEXANDER 
Meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau, Columbus, Ohio 
J. THUNDERSTORMS IN GENERAL. 
1. Introduction 
The typical thunderstorm, that is, the thunderstorm com- 
plete in every detail from its beginning to its ending, has ever 
held a unique place in the world of human thought and spec- 
ulation as evidenced by its large and conspicuous place in 
ancient mythology, by its scarcely less conspicuous place in 
the history and literature of the race, and by the earnest 
consideration it has received from the brightest minds of the 
scientific age. Not only so, but its physical characteristics 
are such as to assure it a place of real and permanent interest 
in our present and future thinking along meteorological lines. 
We are told upon apparently good authority't that more 
myths have gathered about the thunderstorm and its phe- 
nomena than about any other natural phenomenon, except 
possibly light and darkness. And we are quite prepared to 
believe it when we recall the ominous stillness of the air, the 
darkness of the sky, the lurid glare of the clouds, the majestic 
roar of the thunder, and the indescribable effects of the highly 
electrified bodies on the nerves of many people. If these storms 
inspire so much awe in the human mind in a scientific age—in 
these days of our boasted intellectual emancipation—with 
what unspeakable awe must the primitive mind have regarded 
them! No wonder the thunderstorm was looked upon as a 
mystery that pressed for solution or explanation. These early 
“‘explanations’’ have come down to us as myths, which, like 
most myths, are of interest to us chiefly because they consti- 
tute the first efforts of the human mind to explain natural 
phenomena. Then, as now, a thing was regarded as explained 
when classified with other things with which we are acquainted. 
*Presidential address, delivered at the Cleveland meeting of the Ohio 
Academy of Science. 
{For numbers of reference, consult bibliography at close of paper. 
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